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Guides to memory techniques

Practical articles on the methods Mindhall teaches. Each starts with a short answer, gives steps you can try today and lists the studies behind it.

• G-01What is a memory palace? How to build one with the method of lociA memory palace is a place you know well, such as your home, used as a mental filing system. You fix a route with distinct spots, picture a vivid image of one item at each spot, and later walk the route in your mind to recall the items in order. It is also called the method of loci.Read the guide
• G-02The Major system: how to remember numbersThe Major system is a code that turns each digit into a consonant sound (0 = s/z, 1 = t/d, 2 = n, 3 = m, 4 = r, 5 = l, 6 = sh/j, 7 = k/g, 8 = f/v, 9 = p/b). Vowels are free, so 32 becomes moon and 41 becomes rat.Read the guide
• G-03Peg systems: number-shape, rhyme and body pegsA peg system is a set of images you learn once and tie to numbers, such as 1 = candle and 2 = swan. To remember a list, you link each item to the peg with the same number. Because every peg has a number, you can recall the list in order or jump straight to item seven.Read the guide
• G-04How to remember names and facesTo remember a name, first catch it: listen, repeat it and use it once. Then link it to the face: pick one distinctive feature, turn the name into a concrete image that sounds like it, and picture that image on the feature. Recall the name later that day and again a few days later.Read the guide
• G-05How to memorize a speech or presentationMemorize the structure, not every word. Reduce the talk to one key idea per point, place each point as an image on a place along a route you know, and rehearse by walking the route and speaking from memory. Learn only the opening and closing lines word for word, and spread practice over several days.Read the guide
• G-06Spaced repetition and active recall: a study guide for studentsActive recall means testing yourself instead of rereading: close the book and bring the answer back from memory. Spaced repetition means reviewing that material at growing intervals instead of cramming. Together they are among the best-supported study techniques: retrieve it, wait until it gets a little hard, then retrieve it again.Read the guide
• G-07Linked notes, a second brain and the memory palace: how they fit togetherLinked notes and a memory palace solve different problems. A system of linked notes, the idea behind a “second brain”, stores and connects what you know outside your head. A memory palace and spaced review put the most important parts inside it. Write and link notes first, then place and review what you need to recall without looking.Read the guide